Exclusive: Tesco's Plans Revealed at Preview Evening (inc. audio)

Earlier this evening, Tesco held an invite only preview evening to reveal their plans for St. Albans. The tescocampaign website caught up with local resident Mike Dilke as he headed home from the Town Hall meeting to find out what his first impressions of the plan were.

Although we can't reproduce Tesco's plans for St. Albans here, we can tell you that in addition to being viewable at the Town Hall exhibition Friday and part of Saturday, there are plans for a website as well.

We can also tell you that actually seeing the plans confirms much of what many local people have feared:

* the store is very large and has 546 car parking spaces
* it will be open until at least 10pm "for now"
* locally listed Victorian houses on Alma Road, London Road, and perhaps unexpectedly, Inkerman Road will be demolished
* 71 modern flats, which appear to be 6 - 7 stories tall, will take the place of three story Victorian townhouses
* 4-500 additional motor vehicle movements PER HOUR

And be warned - the displays and plans make much of Tesco's plans to "redevelop London Road", an area that, it should be noted, has only become rundown in recent years following the site's acquisition by Tesco.

Here's our interview with Mike Dilke, an engineer and local resident, discussing what he found out at the preview evening: download/play interview (mp3)